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About community

Zoroastrian Community of St. Petersburg carries out the following activities:
• weekly prayer gatherings and special holiday ceremonies
• international communication with the Hamdins
• organization of international exchange visits
• translation and publishing of materials advancing Good Religion
• studying of cultural and artistic heritage expressing Zoroastrian worldview
Zoroastrian Community of St.-Petersburg is an officially registered local religious organization which activity is directed to studying and disseminating the world religion – Zoroastrianism under the international religious and legal regulations. The Community was founded in 1994 and has the official status according to the law of religious associations
In the early 1990-s within the limits of the School of Avesta astrology created by Pavel Globa, a group of people for studying Avesta tradition and the history of the religion was established, which subsequently became the organization "Zoroastrian Community of St.-Petersburg". In his numerous lectures Pavel Globa quoted and explained ancient and medieval texts of Avesta, arousing the interest to the sources of Zoroastrianism. In the heart of the School of Avesta astrology the system of the notions about Zervan - Absolute as the fundamental principle of any existence was developed . Afterwards these notions were added by religious ethics and traditional ideas. During the last years some relations and links with Zoroastrians of Iran and India have been established..

In 1989 Pavel Globa began to give lectures on Avesta astrology in Leningrad. The interest to these lectures was so big that in 1990-s they were visited by thousands of people.In these lectures Pavel Globa explained that Avesta astrology is inseparably linked with the tradition of Zoroastrianism.

Except astrology Pavel Globa told about some substantive provisions of Zoroastrianism. These talks caused great interest among many listeners. At first they got together to celebrate the basic Zoroastrian holidays – Novruz, Sede, gahanbars. Then we made a decision to establish the Zoroastrian organization , having united all interested people. So our Community was registered on April 7th, 1994.
Pavel Globa was elected as a Confessor of the Community. He got this knowledge about Zoroastrianism from his grandfather Gantimurov Ivan Ivanovich who in 1917 participated in the creation of Zoroastrian Community in Petrograd.

In 1996 Michael Chistyakov became the Junior Prior of the Community. At first he himself studied the Avesta language in which the Ghats and Zaratushtra’s words are written. The Avesta language is used in Zoroastrian liturgies. Then Michael Chistyakov taught some other members of the Community to read Avesta . We began to study the ritual carrying out according to Zoroastrian canon accepted among all Zoroastrians of the world. Further Michael Chistyakov continued working at the translation of Avesta.

As a result of it there appeared an edition of«Hords - Avesta» with its full translation into Russian.

In 1997 we began to release Zoroastrian magazine "Митра" which was soon officially registered in mass-media.

Galina Sokolova became the editor of the magazine. Thanks to her efforts the magazine has become an excellent edition recognized in the world. On the magazine pages we tell about the community life; some religious, historical, philosophical, cultural, astrological aspects of Zoroastrianism are revealed there. The editor-in-chief of the magazine "Mitra" is Pavel Globa.
In 1998 kushty rituals of belt tying were developed. After that ten мembers of the Community were tied a belt, having become the kushtivans. In the same year the Community site was made where we informed the whole world about the existence of our Community. After that the relations with some foreign coreligionists began to be established.
In May, 2000 the Community held the first Zoroastrian congress. More than one hundred participants from different cities of the CIS countries arrived in St. Petersburg to take part in it. The priest from India, pars Barzumin Atashban was the guest of honour in the congress .
From 2003 to 2008 our community was taking part in organizing the pilgrim trips to the Ural Mountains to Arkaim. According to one of the hypotheses this place is recognized as the source of Zoroastrianism.
In 2004 the Community delegation went to India for participation in the International Congress. During the trip some contacts were made including the President of the Zoroastrian College of Sandzhana Madam Meher Mousse. Later many other мembers of the Community made similar trips.

In 2008 Madam Meher Mousse together with mobad Kushru Madonom made a reciprocal visit to us in Russia during which some lectures on Zoroastrian rituals were given.

In 2006 during the trip to Iran some relations with Iranian Zoroastrians were established. As a result , in 2007 mobad from Jasda KamranLorian paid a reciprocal visit to us and in 2008 he travelled to Arkaim.

In 2009 the Community was visited by the Head of the Mobad Council of Horshidian.
During the last years according to the recommendations of the Zoroastrian mobeds of Iran and India many мembers of the Community repeatedly carried out the kushti ritual for fuller inclusion in the Zoroastrian tradition and recognition of the world Zoroastrian Community.
In 2009 the Community celebrated the 15th anniversary. After this term according to the legislation of Russia , the Community got some additional rights – receiving some premises from the state, organizing its branches in other cities. Updating the site of the Community became a gift for all Zoroastrians.

For a lot of years we’ve been annually celebrating the basic Zoroastrian holidays and at least once a week we light the fire and carry out Zoroastrian rituals. The Fire of the Good Religion, as they call Zoroastrianism, keeps burning!